Mamata Banerjee’s swearing-in saw a break from protocol, with a live performance being allowed before the national anthem brought the curtain down. From a platform to the right of the stage rang out the Rabindrasangeet Nai nai bhoy hobe hobe joy….
The idea germinated one evening about two months ago — if Mamata wins, there has to be more Tagore than the police band’s Janagana Mana at the swearing-in.
Mamata was playing the piano and singing at artist Shuvaprasanna’s house in Salt Lake. “It came to my head why not have Mamata sing a song before she takes oath. In a free country, one can always steer away from protocol in an orderly manner,” Shuvaprasanna told Metro on Friday.
But with Mamata becoming increasingly pressed for time, it was not possible to have the new chief minister put up the performance herself. “Still, I could not let go of the idea of a full-throated Rabindrasangeet being sung at such a watershed moment, especially when we are still celebrating kabipaksha (the fortnight starting on Tagore’s birth anniversary — this year on May 9),” he said.
The idea was broached to Mamata. She had sung on camera once before, rendering Aye mere watan ke logon impromptu for a reality show that was telecast live.
She liked the proposal but said that since it was the prerogative of the governor, the host of the programme, it could only happen if he allowed. “‘Shuvada, ami boltey parbo na. Tumi kotha bole dyakho,’ she told me. So I went over to Raj Bhavan and made the request on Wednesday. After some discussion, the governor agreed,” recalled the artist.
The next step was the search for the right song. “I consulted Sudeb Guha Thakurta (principal of Dakshinee, the music school). We came up with a shortlist of three-four songs, which included Prano horiye trisha horiye…”
The winner, however, was “Nai, nai bhoy hobey hobey joy, khule jabe ei dwar”, which roughly translates into “Fear not, victory is certain, this door will open”.
As for the selection of the singer, Shuvaprasanna wanted to pick young talent. Guha Thakurta suggested Shamik Pal, a former student of Dakshinee who still performs at the school’s programmes.
“I got a call from Shuvaprasannababu on Wednesday. I knew the song Nai nai bhoy. So a couple of evenings of rehearsal after classes were enough,” says the 32-year-old teacher of economics and marketing at the Institute of Engineering and Management, Salt Lake.
For Pal, it was an “honour” to be part of the historic occasion. “The bonus was being praised by singer Sandhya Mukherjee, seated in the audience.”
Tagore scholar Purnendu Bikash Sarkar, who has compiled all songs of Tagore’s Geetabitan in a DVD format, said: “Nai nai bhoy was written by Tagore while he was in Munich at the age of 65. His manuscript dates it to 18 September, 1926.” From Tagore’s pen in Munich to Mamata’s coronation 84 years later, the song has indeed travelled a long way.
